I asked a group of 16 years olds today who their favourite pop star is? They asked what "pop-star" meant. I quietly turned to dust and blew away.

Just watched Welcome to Derry. I found it poorly characterised, badly paced, devoid of narrative tension and lacking in any sense of authenticity. Honestly, what are you all seeing in this patronising garbage?

The UK has a skills shortage. The best people to fill this are 19+ NEETs from disadvantaged backgrounds. There is no financial support. So parents have to foot the bill. And this isn't viable in a cost of living crisis. No mention or thought of this in the FE Whitepaper. #edusky

My wife is tracking my family history. Basically, it's 700 years of peasantry and then the records stop. That's social mobility in the UK for you. Three generation had the first name Archer though, of which I am deeply envious.

Oh yeah I visited the mannequin phone box today. I couldn't get very close to the elegant eveningwear brunette - it's in someone's garden - but even from a distance the trained eye can detect subtle hints that this may be a Brit job

Someone has dumped a large teddybear in the graveyard. It is not by a child's grave. Nor a recent grave. It's just there propped up a tree stump. I hope there's not a corpse inside it.

There is a cafė in Colwyn Bay where people just go and make art. Great music too. It feels like it should be in a large bohemian city. Ink, Colwyn Bay - my kind of place.

Do you want a character-driven adventure echoing classic Sword & Sorcery film and TRPGs, but also the literary style, worldbuilding and themes of the New Wave writers like Moorcock and Le Guin? It's wide + available to libraries. UBL: books2read.com/u/bz9BOE #booksky #fantasy #sword&sorcery 📚💙

Robert Graves' Claudius novels are what you want to read next. Especially if you're looking for the second world experience fantasy used to give you.

I'm not sure it was the intention of the UK Online Safety Act to teach an entire generation of kids that breaking the law is easy and fun. But...

Women have menopause for like 10 years. That's a health issue that impacts 50% of the world's population for a decade of their lives. I make that roughly 0.6-1.2 billion people at any given time. HTF is there not a common medicine that helps with this?

The UK heatwave is great. It has reduced all smalltalk to one topic that everyone has the same opinion on. "Aye, it is hot."

For real

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow by Clock and Dagger is 45% off during the Steam Summer Sale! Explore the moors of rural Victorian England as you uncover the mysteries of Hob's Barrow. What lies beneath the soil? Find out here: t.co/nguGAst9vv

Countdown (Amazon Prime) drinking game. Take a shot everytime something mediocre happens. See if you can make 15 mins without vomiting.

Please find attached, a Hobbsian descent into savagery, including several deaths and graphic descriptions of corpses (human and animal) and running themes of bullying and torture . Written in dense figurative prose, it should appeal to ages 10-13. All the best, William Golding

Turn to page 175.

The following formats are zombies, they are dead but shambling about repeating the things they did whilst they were alive: 1. Rock music. 2. Genre fiction. 3. Pop music. 4. Literary fiction. 5. Adult cartoons. 6. Period drama. 7. Realist drama. 8. Action films. All murdered for inheritance money.

The Queen Mary Wasifiri New Writing Prize now with an exciting new development as it’s now open to entries in translation – across all three categories Link here wasafiri.org/writing-priz... Please share :)

FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND FUCKING HOLY - PATHETIC FALLACY IS NOT WHEN THE WEATHER REFLECTS THE PISSING MOOD. ITS A BRANCH OF PERSONIFICATION THAT ATTRIBUTES MOOD TO INHUMAN OBJECTS. IT'S REALLY NOT THAT HARD.

Capitalism is good idea on paper, but it has never once worked in practice: www.theguardian.com/news/2025/ma...

Being a huge Nick Drake fan, I have been excited by the leaked cuts of The Making of Five Leaves left. So excited that I was considering buying a physical copy. The price tag of £109.99 is a good reminder of what greedy bastards the music industry have always been, and why streaming won.

Vladimir: Why do you ask? Estragon: So you can ask AI? Vladimir: Why ask me if you want AI's answer? Estragon: So I know you understand. Vladimir: But I don't understand. Estragon: Ask AI then. Vladimir: You ask AI. Estragon: What are answers anyway? Vladimir: I bet AI will know. #edusky #HE

I grew up knowing nothing of this – luckily there are now great books for teachers, educators and parents with a global perspective on WW2 for young readers. (personally have mixed feelings about VE/VJ day and would prefer the International Day of Peace (21st September) marked instead) #kidlituk

Treat Reform voters like you would a zombie. They may look like somebody you used to know and love, but they're just a monster now.

Open your eyes, time to wake up. Enough is enough is enough is enough. #uklocalelecetions

Okay Bsky. New rule. If you post something I am interested and I find I am blocked from responding to it - you better believe that's a block. I don't care how many notifications you're getting. You will listen to me add nothing to the topic, or face my wrathful block.

My latest @newscientist.com cartoon

This first draft is frustratingly good. It's going to be a crushing round of rejections once its polished enough to go out.

Open fields hiding Behind thick roadside hedgerow I wish we had time #haiku #dailyhaikuprompt

Two absolute legends: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-py...

Behind the spring sky that wild indifferent god sleeps off an aeon #dailyhaikuprompt (spring sky)

We celebrate Easter to remember little Jimmy who died try to get his Frisbee back from a substation.

Words To Live By Number 216

I do mention existentialism in the promos, but Aertelis (pinned post) is specifically a Materialist fantasy novel. It's past-in-the-future and gods are not real, to keep action, agency and effect firmly with the characters, who make the world.

And, let me add to that by pointing out that writing led by trend, trope or market is voluntarily moving towards slop, to appease the algorithm. Be the beach, not the paving stones.

Coming of age in the 90s able to tell within 8 bars if a band was Manchester, Stourbridge, Chapel Hill, etc. Reading best sellers filled with local dialects and culture, I find homogenised contemporary culture irrevocably bland. I miss the drive for innovation, the new sound, the fringe movements...

Bill and Ted in Waiting for Godot is the best cultural news I've had all year.

hooked outfoxed Catfish hangs like Spanish Moss beneath fisherman's grin #haiku #poetry

Just watched the film Flow. If you get a chance to see it big screen, make sure you do. It's a rare and beautiful masterpiece.

I was lucky enough to hit Murderbot on book one and have been fairly evangelical about it since. That said, the TV show looks dumbed down, played for laughs / action, and not at all about asking the question: what does it mean to be human? Hopefully it's just a weak trailer.

With a remake of threads due. Can we all take a moment to consider how criminally underrated Barry Hines is as an author.

It's #buyanindiebookday so here is something for classic fantasy fans: a party on an adventure, the literary style of the New Wave SFF, and featuring the existential journey of a character in exile. Available to libraries also, which counts. UBL: books2read.com/u/bz9BOE #booksky 📚💙

A folk horror film in Irish? Looks great!

Job going here with lovely people supporting writers in London. Please share :)

How nice to see billions spent on sort of bringing back the dire wolf. Our endangered species list must be overjoyed.

Earth and moon dancing High tides come and go with time Same as you and I #DailyHaikuPrompt #HighTide

A refugee mouse Shivers in a sandstone crack Hiding from The Dee #dailyhaikuprompt (high tide)

A spotlight of sunlight Through a patio window On a snoring dog #dailyhaikuprompt (warm sun)